The present invention relates to a basketball performance monitoring system that utilizes a variety of sensors located in the vicinity of a basketball rim that can electronically track missed and successful shots, an associated electronic image capture system and a computer software system to transfer and utilize data generated therefrom for the purpose of monitoring, archiving and subsequent review.
In the game of basketball, it is well known that extensive practice of shooting a ball through a circular rim improves the frequency of making a goal. However, monitoring a player's skill level and improvements in making goals has typically been manually tracked and documented. Skills coaching could typically only be accomplished if the coach was present during a practice session, where feedback could only be given on the spot without any subsequent review.
Previously described systems have utilized a variety of sensor means to monitor shots taken, goals missed and goals made, however, they have not included an easy-to-use recording system that allows players and their coaches to track performance, review the shot-by-shot details of practice sessions and archive data for later viewing. For example, Hampton describes a sensing system that can determine the location of an ascending ball as it passes through a plane extending out from the rim and whether the result of such shot is successful or not. It includes using a telecommunication system to pass the sensor data to a computing device; however, it provides no means to monitor shot history nor is it able to tie such shot history to a video archive of the practice session.
Ianni et al. describes a system that uses a combination of a wrist or arm-mounted accelerometer to determine when a shot is taken and a net-mounted accelerometer to determine when a shot successfully made it through the goal. The system requires a relatively sophisticated acceleration profile correlation to differentiate between a shot and other types of arm motions and a goal versus a rim bounce. They describe a data archiving system, but do not utilize any type of corresponding visual recording. This type of sensor arrangement comes at a higher cost for the additional sensor and is higher complexity. It also has the disadvantage of requiring certain acceleration profiles of the basketball net when a ball passes through. This can prove to be unreliable, with variations of net size (loose or tight) and ball trajectories. A further disadvantage is that it requires a player to wear the accelerometer/radio unit on his/her wrist, which may not be to the liking of some players.
Zuccarini and Gordon have previously disclosed a contracting/expanding rim that may be used to improve skill levels; however, this system did not include any means for recording and tracking of practice sessions.